1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plural different circuits often are connected via one connector, for example, in wiring harnesses of automotive vehicles. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-106670 discloses a connector that can facilitate a connecting operation by dividing a housing for each circuit. Each housing of this connector has a lock to be engaged with a lock receiving portion of a mating connector. In this way, the lock receiving portion of the mating connector is shared by the divided housings, making a structural change of the mating connector unnecessary.
Circuits to be connected to one connector differ depending on vehicle types, grades and the like in many cases and, for a change in the number of poles along. Thus, a plurality of types of housings having different numbers of poles need to be prepared. If a mating connector is configured such that a locking structure is changed in accordance with the size of a housing or tab-like terminals are projecting, it is necessary to make structural changes such as the omission of the tab-like terminals to prevent the tab-like terminals from butting against a united part of the housings.
The present invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to provide a connector capable of dealing with a change in the number of poles without structurally changing a mating connector.